The use of e-cigarettes continues to rise globally—especially among youth. However, there is very little known about the quantity and nature of e-cigarette marketing on social media in countries with newer and evolving e-cigarette markets and with different policies on e-cigarettes.

Our new TERM study, recently published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, explores how and through which social media platforms e-cigarettes are marketed to consumers in three such countries: India, Indonesia and Mexico. This brief has been developed to increase awareness of the key findings of this research.

Our findings reveal that the volume of observed marketing and key players associated with it, corresponds with the country’s regulatory context: In Indonesia, which has effectively no restrictions on e-cigarettes, we found a greater volume of e-cigarette marketing on social media, conducted primarily by product brands. In Mexico and India, where e-cigarettes are regulated or banned, there was less e-cigarette marketing, conducted exclusively by third-party retailers. Our findings also revealed common patterns in marketing that transcended borders, such as targeting youth with messaging that glamorized e-cigarette use.